1. the Services Sector (Mainly Port Services) Plays a Key Role in Djibouti’S Economy, Particularly in Terms of Jobs and Contribution to the GDP
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WT/TPR/S/159 Trade Policy Review Page 48 IV. ANALYSIS OF TRADE POLICY AND PRACTICE BY SECTOR (1) OVERVIEW 1. The services sector (mainly port services) plays a key role in Djibouti’s economy, particularly in terms of jobs and contribution to the GDP. Port services make Djibouti a net exporter of services, although its potential for trade in services remains under-exploited. The desire to make better use of its comparative advantages in this area has led the Government to draw up strategies, inter alia, for structural reform (including privatization) and financing (notably in partnership with other countries, the United Arab Emirates in particular). 2. The reforms under way and those envisaged for the future provide for the State’s withdrawal or reduced State intervention in key activities such as the supply of telecommunications, water, electricity and transport services and postal services. Djibouti’s commitments under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) are confined to some postal and courier services, hotel and restaurant services, telecommunications, and cultural and sporting services (underwater diving centre). 3. Djibouti has hardly any known mining resources, and the conditions are ideal for agricultural production. Organizational constraints, including the infrastructure and strategic weaknesses (by increasing production costs) are an obstacle to the only possibility for Djibouti to produce goods, namely, local processing of imported inputs. Consequently, domestic production of goods is marginal and the majority of strategies drawn up to remedy this situation take a long time before actually being implemented. (2) AGRICULTURE, LIVESTOCK, FISHING AND RELATED ACTIVITIES 4. Highly dependent on geographical conditions, including the climate, the agricultural sector merely accounts for some 3 per cent of the GDP. Djibouti has only 10,000 hectares of arable land, of which 1,000 are cultivated. Some 9.5 per cent of the land under cultivation is irrigated. Half of the arable land is in the north; the majority of crops are grown in the south, however, mainly in the districts of Ali-Sabieh, Dikhil and Djibouti. There are around 1,600 farms in Djibouti, employing an approximate total of 3,600 people.1 The average area of farms is one half hectare. 5. Agricultural production is of the oasis type and is primarily family-run subsistence farming. Livestock breeding is chiefly nomadic and is the major activity of the rural population in terms of jobs. Fishing is not sufficiently developed. Dates, lemons, mangos, melons and vegetables are the main food crops grown. Production was estimated to be 4,000 tonnes in 2001 and covers almost 10 per cent of national demand for fruit and vegetables. Djibouti is therefore a net importer of food products; its imports of food products and beverages accounted for 30.5 per cent of total imports of goods between 2000 and 2002. 6. According to the FAO, the poor yields are due to the recent installation of gardens, combined with a lack of experience or an agricultural tradition among the rural population, the poor soil, the salinity of the water, shortcomings in the design of the gardens (badly designed levelling of the land and irrigation networks), the absence of windbreaks and shade and, lastly, the inappropriate cultural techniques used. Nevertheless, by properly incorporating livestock breeding and the pastoral 1 Statement by the Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Marine Affairs, responsible for hydraulic resources. Seminar to review Government action. Available at: http://www.presidence.dj/mem.html [2 August 2005]. Djibouti WT/TPR/S/159 Page 49 communities, which have been the most affected by desertification, the oasis-type model could provide a response to the crisis in the pastoral sector.2 7. The main objective of Djibouti’s agricultural policy is food security.3 To achieve this, the Government plans to carry out the following action: (i) increase irrigated areas; (ii) diversify livestock activities; (iii) exploit the small pelagic fish to be found in Djiboutian waters; and (iv) provide safe supplies of drinking water in rural areas so as to increase production of animals and plants and, as a result, enhance the food security of the most vulnerable sector of the population. The introduction of a special food security programme and a micro-credit programme is being implemented by IFAD. 8. The Government’s global strategy for the decade 2001-2010, as set out in the Economic and Social Policy Law4, defines as the main objectives for the agricultural sector as a whole: (i) combating poverty by raising revenue and living standards among the rural population; (ii) halting the rural exodus; (iii) rational exploitation of natural resources in order to enhance and protect the environment and biodiversity; (iv) developing arable land, increasing the area under irrigation and promoting livestock and fishing activities with a view to increasing local agricultural production (vegetables, fruit, meat and fish); (v) developing oasis-type agriculture in order to promote cultivation of the date palm in particular; and (vi) reorganizing the Ministry responsible for agriculture so as to build up its structures for planning, monitoring development programmes and disseminating information. 9. In addition to its outreach activities, the State will focus on planning, research, development and monitoring the sector. It will assume responsibility for all those activities that cannot be carried out by the private sector or the cooperative movement, namely, inter alia, sanitary and phytosanitary controls. The average internal consumption tax (TIC) on agricultural products (ISIC definition, revision 2) is 20.9 per cent, with rates going up to 33 per cent. Since Djibouti is a net importer of agricultural products, including foodstuffs, these rates appear relatively high. The price of agricultural products is determined by the market and there is no taxation in the sector. Products are marketed directly by farmers and livestock breeders. (i) Policy by type of product (a) Crop production 10. Djibouti’s three main branches of agriculture in order of importance are: cultivation of vegetable crops, arboriculture and livestock breeding; they are organized in the form of cooperatives. During the 2004-2005 agricultural season, 5,369 tonnes were produced, comprising 2,835 tonnes of fruit, 2,324 tonnes of vegetables and 208 tonnes of animal feed crops. 11. The development strategy for crop production is essentially based on the following: (i) raising productivity by disseminating growing techniques and introducing species adapted to local circumstances (tests are being carried out to promote palms), and by integrating livestock breeding and crop production; (ii) strengthening and rehabilitation of farms in the north and the south-west affected by the conflict in 1992; (iii) diversifying production with a view to enhancing the sector’s profitability; (iv) improving hydro-agricultural schemes by using solar energy instead of diesel fuel; and (v) transfer of State-owned farms to private farmers. 2 Information available at: http://www.presidence.dj/mem.html [2 August 2005]. 3 General policy declaration of the Government for the decade 2001-2010. Available at: http://www.presidence.dj/page412.html [14 January 2005]. 4 Law No. 149/AN/02/4èmeL of 31 January 2002. WT/TPR/S/159 Trade Policy Review Page 50 12. A minimum TIC rate of 8 per cent applies to grains. Higher rates apply to other crops, with an average of 27.7 per cent on cut flowers and plants and 23.4 per cent on coffee, tea and cocoa, inter alia. (b) Livestock breeding 13. In 2002, Djibouti’s livestock herd, chiefly composed of small ruminants, was estimated to be around 1 million head. Nomadic herding accounts for 90 per cent of activities in the subsector and is characterized by mobility governed by rainfall. Sedentary stock-raising is practised in the vicinity of population centres or water sources. Livestock breeding is the source of livelihood for almost one third of the population. The national abattoir is managed by the State. 14. Development of livestock breeding has been affected in recent years by a series of droughts. The authorities estimate that, since 1992, these droughts have destroyed one quarter of the herd.5 Djibouti acts as a transit centre for regional trade in livestock. Droughts and animal diseases have badly affected the transit of animals coming from Ethiopia.6 Before the embargo imposed by importing countries on animals from the Horn of Africa, Djibouti exported annually up to 350,000 head of cattle in 1990; the figure fell to only 2,000 in 2002. Since then, the herd has started to grow. In 2003, exports of cattle resumed (30,230), particularly to Yemen, where conditions for the import of animals are more flexible. Nevertheless, exports dropped again to 13,891 in 2004.7 15. Ancient nomadic traditions do not provide the conditions for industrial exploitation of Djibouti’s livestock sector, although it has considerable commercial potential. In order to develop livestock breeding, the strategy planned comprises the following: (i) raising productivity of livestock breeding and methods of exploiting herds; (ii) diversifying livestock breeding activities (poultry breeding, bee-keeping and rabbit breeding); (iii) improving pastoral water utilization; (iv) transferring technology to breeders-herders through appropriate technical assistance, active training methods and pilot demonstrations; and (v) ensuring animal health by implementing the national component of the PanAfrican Programme for the Control of Epizootics (PACE).8 16. The projects being implemented are intended to boost exports of live cattle, providing standards, quality regulations, together with implementation of the PACE and the introduction of a monitoring system and an animal diagnosis laboratory. 17. According to the Diagnostic Study under the Integrated Framework, no less than five ministries (agriculture, trade, finance, interior and foreign affairs) are currently involved in the international trade in cattle, not to mention the port authorities and the Chamber of Commerce.